[Killietalk] Newbie question... hatching eggs & dealing with peatmoss.

["Mark Pearlscott" <mark at pearlscott_com>]

Being new to killifish, I have some questions about the process people
use while hatching eggs.  Everything I read indicates that with either
peat (bottom) spawners, or plant (mop) spawners, the easiest way to get
a group to hatch together (i.e. similar size fry) is to use peat moss.
Obviously the bottom-spawners eggs are (already) in the peat, and the
mop-spawners eggs are picked from the mop and placed onto moist peat.
Every book also says to boil the peat first to help reduce its acidity.
So now here are my questions (be gentle, I am still learning about this
stuff)...

Does boiling the peat make it sink better?

Is there any other reason to boiling the peat besides reducing acidity?

What is the best way to go about hatching the eggs when they look ready
(i.e. eyed-up)?

Would it be to manually remove the eggs from the peat and place them in
a small cup of appropriate water?  If so, what is an easy way to
separate eggs from peat?  Use a net?  Using fingers and a magnifying
glass?

If the best way is just to submerge the peat with the eggs in a small
dish of water, wouldn't some of the peat float, and some sink, making it
hard to spot and separate out any fry that hatch?  Maybe if someone has
figured out a way to make all the peat sink, it would be easier (and
maybe boiling the peat does that) as all the fry would be swimming above
the peat.

One book mentions to sprinkle the peat with 68DF water (for Nothos) when
the eggs are ready.  Wouldn't you want to cover the eggs completely with
water for when the fry hatch?

Thanks in advance for helping a killie-newbie!

Cheers,

Mark


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